Perfect Alignment (25 page)

Drew waited for more, but apparently that was all Richard had to say at the moment. “That’s convenient, as I like her too.” He took a drink.

Emma shot in the last of their balls and Drew got up to cheer her on for the eight before Richard had a chance to launch into another round. She sank it easily and leapt into his arms for a victory kiss he was more than happy to provide. When they broke free, Taryn was sitting in Richard’s lap, a beer in one hand and a chicken wing in the other.

“Ricky, I think we should get drunk.”

Emma looked surprised. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drunk, Tare.”

Caleb smiled. “She’s flirty when she’s drunk.”

Taryn stuck her tongue out at him.

Caleb only stared at her, raised his eyebrow. She flushed and picked up her drink.

“Well, I have to be at work early tomorrow, and I don’t think my boss would like it if I were nursing a hangover.”

Taryn raised her mug in salute.

Drew pulled Emma in close, pleased when she leaned her weight back against him. Her hair brushed his cheek and her scent reminded him they had more plans for the evening. Not that he’d actually forgotten, but he’d managed to push it to the back of his mind so his cock didn’t embarrass him. He felt like one of the college students at the next table—too many hormones, not enough brain cells.

After a few minutes of debating, Richard and Caleb took to the table, Drew pulling Emma onto his lap, Taryn taking Richard’s seat. He let the conversation play out around him, interjecting here and there, while they watched Richard and Caleb play. All the while he kept his hands moving. First he rubbed Emma’s knee, then lightly scratched her back. Nothing inappropriate, but constant. She began to squirm subtly in his lap, which was probably not his smartest maneuver, but he couldn’t really complain. He pushed his fingers under her thigh, pressing hard into her leg. Her whole body reacted, though he wasn’t touching anything that wouldn’t have been bared by shorts.

When she squirmed again, he put his arm around her waist to hold her securely, letting his thumb inch up under her shirt and slide across her skin. Taryn gave a knowing grin and got up to cheer her men on, leaving them alone.

“Are you having fun?” Her question came out a bit breathy as he nuzzled her neck.

“I am.”

“Do you want to play another game?”

He couldn’t tell if she was hoping he’d answer with a yes or a no.

“Do you?”

Her hand gripped his thigh as he nibbled her earlobe.

“No, I think I’m good. Let’s go.”

He laughed. “You don’t want to run out while they’re in the middle of a game, do you?”

“Sure I do.” But she didn’t try to move from his lap.

“I like your friends,” he said as he wiggled the fingers he’d trapped under her thigh.

“I-I’m glad.”

“I have a question for you, though.”

“Mmm, hmm?”

“At night, when you think about four hands roaming your body, two mouths licking you all over, are they ever
those
hands and mouths?” He pointed with his chin to the two men ragging on each other at the pool table.

“No.” She turned to look into his eyes. “There weren’t really faces before. And now, well, my memories are better than my imagination ever was.”

He smiled, then urged her up off his lap. He could only tease her so far before he was just torturing himself. They went back to the game, cheering both men on until Caleb finally missed a shot and accidentally sent the eight ball into the corner pocket, giving Richard the game.

Emma doled out hugs and practically dragged him out to the parking lot. When they reached her apartment, he heard salsa music through the front door. Inside they found a woman in pajama bottoms and a tank top, her hair pulled up into a messy bun, dancing around with index cards in her hands. When she spotted them, she gave a small shriek and froze. A wry grin stretched across her face as she calmed.

“Sorry. I was trying to memorize my Spanish vocab. The music helps.”

“I’m sorry we interrupted. Dana, this is Drew. Drew, one of my roommates, Dana. We’ll just, uh, let you get back to it.” She dragged him off to a small hallway, giving him no chance to do anything other than wave at Dana. “Feel free to keep the music loud,” she tossed over her shoulder as they left the room.

The hallway had a door on each side and a bathroom at the end. She yanked open the door on the left and pulled him inside. He’d been there once before, though he hadn’t met either of her roommates at the time. He found the small but neat room, the bed made up in a light green with lots of pillows, to be very, charmingly Emma. Her desk was overflowing with paperwork and an old computer, with textbooks lined up on small shelves dotting the wall, and he had no doubt she could find whatever she needed without hesitation.

He pretended great interest in the setup, ignoring Emma until she grew fed up enough to jump him from behind. Laughing, he secured her legs to his hips and spun her around until he faced the bed. She peppered his cheek with kisses as he walked the few steps, turned, and let her fall to the mattress. Then he was on her. No more teasing, he thrust his tongue to meet hers while his fingers worked on pulling her pants down. The bed springs gave off an awesome squeak and Emma froze, her fingers faltering in their duty to open his belt.

“She won’t hear over the music,” he assured her.

“You think?”

“You have any better options?”

She looked guilty, glanced at the floor. He dropped his head to her forehead, forced his brain to think.

“Seriously?” he asked, just in case he was wrong.

“Please?”

She sounded so hopeful and unsure, so unlike herself, he couldn’t help himself. He grinned, then let her go, getting to his feet. She didn’t move, just watched as he undressed himself, her gaze scanning over his whole body as if she hadn’t seen it before. When she licked her lips, his cock gave a little twitch. He held out a hand, pulled her up off the bed, pointed to a clear space on the floor. She yanked off the comforter and spread it across the floor, as much of it as would fit, anyway. Then she waited.

She didn’t have to wait long.

“Get naked,” he whispered.

He could tell she wanted to tear her clothes off, but she slowed down, gave him a little bit of a show. When her bra finally fell from her hands, he moved right into her. Her full breasts pressed into him, her damp heat a tease against his thigh. He wrapped his arms around her so that his hands rested on her shoulders from behind and pressed down. Without breaking the kiss, they lowered to their knees.

He moved back a space, eliciting a moan of denial from her. He put his finger to her lips in reminder. “I want you to touch yourself. Your breasts, your nipples, your pussy.”

He moved his hand to his cock, gave it a little tug.

She watched his hand, but she did what she’d been told. Both of her hands went to her breasts, plumping and messaging them, unconsciously matching the rhythm he set. He used his other hand to give his balls a tug. She freed one hand and moved it down, circling her opening, bringing the moisture up to her clit. Her other hand turned to pinching her nipples.

“Harder,” he instructed in a low voice. Her answering moan was louder.

“Shhh.”

She tugged her lip between her teeth and remained quiet.

Her breasts were flushed, her nipples hard and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could wait to get inside her. Luckily, he didn’t have to.

“Turn around, get down on all fours.”

She did so, watching him from over her shoulder, watching as he stroked his cock, put on a condom. He put a hand on her butt, enjoying the contrast between their skin, the roundness of her ass, the hungry look in her eye. There was so much about his Emma to enjoy. He slid one finger, then two, easily into her. So ready for him.

He entered her, stopping when only the head had breached. She clamped down on him, hard, her body trembling under his hand as she fought the need to move, knowing he would tell her if she was allowed.

“Good girl, stay still for me. I know you can do it. Still and quiet.”

At his words, her trembling lessened, her breathing deepened.

As he eased in farther, the loud music that he’d tuned out crashed to silence. They both froze.

A singsong voice called out. “Bye, Emma, I’ll be back later!”

The front door slammed in a way he doubted was usual, and he choked back a laugh. Emma didn’t bother.

“Well,” she said breathlessly. “Better late than never, I guess!”

Without another word, he thrust in, hard and fast and complete. Taken by surprise, Emma cried out, but the cry turned into a wail as she came. He waited, but only for a few seconds. Then he moved, in and out, hard and fast, one hand holding her hip for what felt like dear life, the other moving to her front. He knew he found her clit when she cried out again and slammed back into him.

“Oh god, Drew, fuck, fuck, fuck,” she muttered in time to his thrusts. He almost laughed, would have if he could’ve spared the breath. Instead he closed his eyes tight, holding back the groan even though they were in the clear, coming like he only seemed to with Emma.

He slid free of her, dropped down to his heels, tried to catch his breath.

She looked over her shoulder at him, her smug smile sexy as hell.

“Since you seem to be able to move, why don’t you take care of this for me,” he suggested with a nod to the condom.

As sinuously as possible, she turned around and slid a hand to his dick, slowly pulling the condom free. Then, in an abrupt change of mood, she darted a peck of a kiss onto his mouth, sprang to her feet and bounded out of the bedroom, leaving the door wide open. He stayed on his knees until she returned, warm washcloth in hand, and cleaned him with careful thoroughness.

She left with the washcloth and by the time she returned he’d manage to get up and put the blanket back on the bed. It groaned and squeaked as they climbed in and arranged themselves, and she laughed herself silly for a good couple of minutes.

He just held on, enjoying the beautiful sound before drifting off to sleep.

****

Emma opened Drew’s front door and turned to wave goodbye to her friend Cheryl, who had dropped her off on her way out of town. She’d taken her last final and had nearly twenty-four hours until she needed to leave for the airport. Drew had agreed to drive her into Boston and arranged his schedule to do so. He wouldn’t be home for a couple of hours, which should work perfectly for her plans.

Finals had been tough, but now that they were over, she felt pretty confident in how she’d done. She was looking forward to seeing her parents, but still a little nervous about what two weeks away from Drew would do to their relationship. She hated that she wasn’t confident enough in what they had to believe that there would be no issue. And she wasn’t at all sure about the whole meeting his parents on her return thing. On the one hand, it seemed like a good step. But from his attitude, she didn’t think it was all that simple.

Dumping her suitcase in the living room, she lugged the grocery bags into the kitchen, dropped them on the counter and turned Drew’s radio on to her favorite rock station. She unpacked the bags and got to work. She’d decided to make him a romantic dinner, complete with candles and decorations. Well, she would be the decoration. To remind him of their first day together, but giving it a new spin, she’d gotten her own set of handcuffs with furry pink padding to make him smile. And to match the incredibly sexy lingerie she’d picked up. Pink wasn’t usually her color, but she figured it made a statement in this case.

Hopefully that statement was something along of lines of
look what you’ll be missing out on, bet you can’t wait until I come back
. In the kitchen, she grabbed a beer and considered calling Taryn or Stephanie. She wasn’t used to being this unsure about herself, and it was kind of pissing her off. But then again, she hadn’t really been in any long-term relationships, so she couldn’t be blamed for not knowing exactly what should be happening. What she knew was that Drew had said straight out he wasn’t sure what they had could work, so she had reason to be scared. Which sucked.

Taking a pull on the beer, she went about getting the salmon marinating, then worked on dicing tomatoes, avocados and onions while the corn boiled for her fresh salad, in between a silly conversation with Toby by text message. When she was done, it was time to put the salmon in the oven and go take a shower. The fact that she had her favorite shampoo and conditioner here, that Drew had never given any indication that they, or the other small items she kept around the house, bothered him, gave her hope that even if he didn’t realize it, they already were in a serious relationship, and doing just fine with it.

She shaved and lotioned and brushed until she felt pretty and sexy, then put on the pink scraps that were purported to be lingerie. Reenergized, she skipped down the stairs and rummaged in her bag until she found the sexy high-heeled sandals she’d borrowed from her roommate. She made a mental note to leave them at Drew’s place rather than drag them to California with her, and brought the shoes to the dining room table. No need to put them on until she was ready.

The salmon smelled delicious as she took it out of the oven to rest. She spooned a heaping portion of salad onto one plate, opened a bottle of white wine and set the table with a placemat, napkin, fork, candles and one glass. She checked her watch and scurried over to the radio to change to a much more mellow station, smiling when she heard the car on the drive. Perfect timing. A quick transfer of both pieces of fish to the plate and she was all set. She turned out all of the lights except the one over the stove and one lamp in the living room, then did a quick check to make sure the car that was parking was Drew’s and that he was alone.

Satisfied, she sat in the chair that she had used the first time she’d been in his house and put on the shoes. Placing her hands behind the chair back, she clicked the cuffs into place as she listened to the footsteps making their way up the steps and to the door. She’d left it locked, since she’d be in a somewhat precarious position, and she heard the knob rattle for a second, then a pause, then the key working the lock.